I think this is a pine cone cactus. I acquired a single "cone" from my son who got it from someone else. I stuck it in the soil and waited and waited and waited. Just when I was about to give up it came to life. Now it looks like this and last summer it really fattened up a lot. It finally seems to have enough roots to hold it up. Prior to last summer I had to prop it up all the time. If anyone knows anything more about this variety I'd be interested to hear it.